2 BULLETIN 17 7, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



from the British Museum, which Boulenger had Hsted, and H. W. 

 Parker kindly furnished me with lists of other specimens in that 

 museum, while I was later allowed to examine these specimens and 

 those in several other European collections during a visit in 1938. 

 My sincere thanks are due to Dr. Leonhard Stejneger, of the United 

 States National Museum, whose unfailing interest, encouragement, 

 and assistance in the many problems involved have made the com- 

 pletion of the work possible. 



Most of the figures for this Herpetology of Hispaniola were made by 

 me from photographs. In a few instances, where the specimens were 

 mutilated or otherwise unsuited to photography, the dra"s\dngs are 

 freehand. When figures have been copied from earlier publications, 

 credit is given in the legends. 



PHYSIOGRAPHY 



An excellent summary of the geographical features of Hispaniola 

 appeared in "The Birds of Haiti and the Dominican RepubUc," by 

 Dr. Alexander Wetmore and Bradshaw H. Swales.* There is little to 

 add to their discussion, except to remark that the extremely rugged 

 character of the island's surface has proved to be a very effective 

 means of isolation to certain genera of amphibians and reptiles, so 

 that a truly astonishing number of entirely localized forms is often 

 found within a relatively restricted area. 



The Massif de la Selle Mountains, whose tops were islands when the 

 Cul-de-Sac Plain was below sea level, supplies a good example of this 

 condition, for within the past few years two new genera of lizards 

 and a new genus of snakes have been foimd on Peak La Selle. 



Another interesting evidence of specialization carried out to sub- 

 species is found in the genus Leiocephalus. No less than 11 distinct 

 subspecies of the personatus group are now known from Hispaniola 

 as a whole — seven from the mainland and one each from four of the 

 adjoining islets. 



The snakes of the genus Leimadophis have the tendency to local 

 specialization to nearly the same degree, as seven subspecies of the 

 parvifrons stock can be recognized, three rather poorly separated 

 forms from the present main body of the island and four rather distinct 

 forms from outlying islets. An example of the eflFect of the removal 

 of a natural barrier is evident here. Almost within the memory 

 of the oldest inhabitant, Samand Peninsula was an island separated 

 from the main body of Hispaniola by a rapidly fUhng strait, in 

 which pirate vessels were said to have lain in wait for richly laden 

 merchantmen sailing for Europe. On this island a black form of 

 Leimadophis developed. The melanistic color is found in a good 

 many of the protenus specimens from the northeastern part of the 

 Dominican Republic, and, as a matter of fact, it is at present very 



« U. 8. Nat. Mus. Bull. 165, pp. 2-7, 1931. 



